As recently as December 2020, the Argentine Congress, after a long and hard struggle by the country's women's movement, made a historic decision on a new law that gave women the right to abortion.
The world is generally moving towards a more tolerant view of abortion, but the situation changes over time and the right cannot be taken for granted just because it was won on one occasion. In Argentina, where women recently celebrated, the newly elected president, Javier Milei, has now put the issue on the agenda.
"He is an outspoken opponent of abortion, and this may sound a bit surprising since he describes himself as a libertarian and belongs to that ideology, but he believes that for him, it is the right to the individual's life that is at the center, and then it also includes the lives of the unborn," says Tigran Feiler.
During the election campaign, he promised a referendum on the question of whether he won the election. Milei has been elected along with a vice presidential candidate, Victoria Villarruel, who comes from a conservative background and is also very critical of the legalization of abortion.
"The country is now at a crossroads.
At the same time, several major countries in Latin America have legalized abortion in recent years. Hear more about abortion rights on the continent in the video above.